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3. No Need for Worries!

Outside the shrine, Ryoko, Ayeka and Tenchi are enjoying sweet potatoes cooked over a fire. Ryoko isn’t enjoying herself as much as she’d like, however- not when it is obvious how close Ayeka is getting to Tenchi.

Later, Ryoko sits by herself on the roof, eating yet another load of potatoes and worrying about Ayeka- at least, until she is distracted by a sound from the lake. Flying over to investigate, she sees something glowing in the wreckage of her Ryo-Ohki spaceship. The appearance of this item is not unexpected, and Ryoko is quick to use her powers to lift the object out of the water.

On his way to the shrine, Tenchi is distracted by a mysterious object spiralling in the sky- so distracted, in fact, that he falls over backwards. As he gets up, he hears someone laughing at him, and soon sees that it is a young girl. Introducing herself as Sasami, the girl explains that she is looking for her older sister. As Tenchi walks over to her, a gust of wind blows up, and he is forced to shield his eyes- but when Tenchi looks back, Sasami is gone.

Up at the shrine, Tenchi tells Katsuhito about the encounter, and wonders if it was a ghost or leprechaun that he ran into. To Tenchi’s surprise, Katsuhito tells him that the girl was most likely a real person, and proceeds to give a description of her as depicted in his mind’s eye. Katsuhito tells Tenchi to expect to meet the girl again shortly- and indeed, at that moment, Sasami reaches the top of the shrine steps, accompanied by Nobuyuki. Katsuhito isn’t so much psychic as is he is observant- all this time he was watching her climb the shrine steps.

Nobuyuki explains that Sasami is Ayeka’s younger sister, and that she has come to take Ayeka home. Back at the main house, the two sisters share a happy reunion, but Ayeka is all too aware that Sasami’s arrival means her vacation has come to an end. Even a farewell dinner for her and Mihoshi cannot lift Ayeka’s spirits, and her quiet demeanour soon has Tenchi worried as well.

Noticing Tenchi’s concern over Ayeka, Ryoko decides to draw attention back to herself. After making a show of not being able to finish her dinner, Ryoko pretends to have a sudden craving for pickles and ice cream. As the others wonder if Ryoko could be pregnant, she quickly rushes out of the room, and soon after the sound of a baby crying is heard. And when Ryoko re-enters the room, the ‘baby’ is in her arms- a round black egg which she claims is her child by Tenchi.

Tenchi tries to explain that this has all been a mistake, but the others refuse to listen, and instead begin congratulating him- all, that is, except Ayeka. She angrily confronts Ryoko, who only goes out of her way to annoy the princess further by claiming that Tenchi must be the proud father, after all, they did sleep together.

Determined to prove the matter one way or another, Ayeka grabs the egg, intending to smash it and find out what is inside. As Ayeka raises the egg above her head, the others try to stop her, but in doing so they only succeed in making the egg slip out of her hands and smash on the floor.

As everyone stares in horror at the smashed egg, the child in question breaks out of the shell, revealing itself to be a cabbit (cat-rabbit). She certainly seems different from the usual humanoid baby, but Sasami and the others are convinced that she looks just like Tenchi.

Whatever the case, one thing is for certain; the cabbit has already developed a liking for one particular kind of food- carrots. Whilst the cabbit munches on her new-found favourite food, Sasami begins debating a name for the new arrival, but Ryoko has already decided what to call her. She shall be named Ryo-Ohki, just like Ryoko’s spaceship.

With the excitement over, it is soon time for Ayeka, Sasami and Mihoshi to leave. Pleased to see Ayeka off, Ryoko even offers to escort her partway home- and now she even has the ship to do it in. To demonstrate what she means, Ryoko drags Ryo-Ohki away from her latest carrot and tosses the cabbit in the air, where she promptly transforms into the Ryo-Ohki spaceship. Ryo-Ohki is in fact the child of the crashed Ryo-Ohki spaceship, and despite Ayeka’s dislike of the idea, Sasami and Mihoshi would be happy to have Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki accompany them for at least part of the trip.

Whilst Ayeka, Sasami and Mihoshi board Sasami’s ship (along with the two guardian Azaka and Kamidake), Ryoko brings Tenchi aboard Ryo-Ohki, and the two ships take off. As they pull away from Earth, Sasami notices that Ayeka is distant- could it be that she is thinking about Tenchi? Sasami and Mihoshi start asking Ayeka about her feelings for Tenchi- and the poor princess is soon squirming under the pressure.

Visual communications with Ryo-Ohki are soon established, enabling Ayeka to break off the awkward conversation with Sasami and Mihoshi- only now she has to talk to Tenchi himself. Ayeka explains what a good time she had on Earth, but when the moment comes to reveal her true feelings to Tenchi, she cannot bring herself to do it, and instead bids him farewell.

As Sasami’s ship prepares to go to full speed, Ryoko gleefully anticipates the departure of her rival, but it seems that things are not to go as planned. Realising that she has something tucked into her clothes, Sasami pulls it out, only to discover that it is the carrot Ryo-Ohki was eating earlier. With visual communications still active, Ryo-Ohki quickly spots the carrot, and the cabbit-spaceship soon become fixated on it- to the point of plotting a collision course with Sasami’s ship.

Desperate for the carrot, Ryo-Ohki smashes into Sasami’s ship, which is practically destroyed in the ensuing explosion. Fortunately, everyone survives- although it looks like the girls will be staying on Earth for a while longer after all.

Back at home, Tenchi once again shares cooked sweet potatoes with the girls, but this time Ryoko is quick to prevent Tenchi and Ayeka from getting too close. However, whilst the two rivals concentrate on each other, someone else is busy getting Tenchi’s attention- Sasami. As Sasami and Tenchi begin feeding each sweet potatoes, Ryoko and Ayeka are temporarily united in their annoyance. How could such a young girl become yet another rival for Tenchi’s affections?